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Twofold Appeal | Davis Hugh H. Davis University of Tennessee Hhd@utkux.utcc.utk.edu Twofold Appeal Jill Matus. Toni Morrison. Manchester UP, 1998. (208 pages; Paper) Toni Morrison is clearly an important author and the 1993 Nobel Prize for Literature has established her place in the literary canon. However, Morrison's commercial success —all ofher novels are best sellers—suggests she possesses both a mass and a literary attraction. Indeed, her reputation continues to grow and the recent adaptation of Beloved—arguably Morrison's best novel—into a motion picture reveals an expansion ofher popularity into another medium. Morrison's twofold appeal makes her an important figure for study as her influence reaches into different realms. With the author's ever-increasing reputation as a literary icon (and her burgeoning status as a creator of popular reading ), analysis must be carefully constructed. Jill Matus' recent study of Morrison finds the necessary balance for such a book, acknowledging the author's importance and obvious talents, while still delving deeper to reveal Morrison's role as writer and historian. As Professor Matus explains in her opening chapter, "Contexts and Intertexts," Toni Morrison's fiction is concerned with the past, reclaiming and reevaluating it through narrative form. Her novels recall stressful experiences that allow closure on such events (as the titles provide symbolic burial ceremonies) and create a living past (as the readers experience the traumas vicariously). History—for Morrisonis an organic entity. One does not escape because time advances , and so Morrison may revisit moments through her literature, keeping the reader and herself aware and involved while "making" history. These novels serve as literary testimony which positions its author as one-part chronicler and one-part artist, finding the historical through expressive imagination. Clearly, no discussion ofMorrison can be made without race and gender consideration in her works, giving particular emphasis and evaluation to her role in the creation and establishment of identity. Morrison—as an artist in the latter twentieth century—has been influential in creating literary perceptions of Black identity, especially Black women's identity , and Matus certainly discusses these issues, but the strength of this study is the breadth it considers Morrison's achievements. The combined brevity and the expansiveness of this subject threatens to turn it into an oversimplified approach , but Matus skillfully avoids any such problems, producing instead a complex, engaging discussion that frames Morrison's works without falling into any possible traps. One of the strengths of Toni Morrison is its organization . After a concise chronology of Morrison's life that provides an introduction, each chapter is devoted to a single novel. The effective result is that each chapter fits well into Matus' research while, at the same time, can be read as individual analyses of the respective novels. While the final chapter provides a thorough overview, there is also a post script on Paradise, Morrison's latest title, which was released as this study went to press. Matus should especially be commended for this undoubtedly quickly written piece, which again provides excellent discussion of a single work, while it also can seamlessly fits into this overall thesis. (It is unfortunate Matus did not have more time with this late novel, as readers undoubtedly would have only benefitted from a longer chapter, but her short-order work here is indeed remarkable .) Professor Matus deserves considerable recognition. In a concise framework, she has tackled an enormous topic and still provided discussion that is engaging, insightful, and accessible . This book should prove an asset to both scholars and students as it is able to both introduce and continue dialogue about Morrison. - "Window on Real World" continued from page 92 photodramas about critical journalists covering foreign affairs in spots of conflict are suitable for a good "anti-American festival" (74). The study is supposed to help others teaching international relations to introduce cinema into their classes. But all it does is inform them ofwhat photoplays there are rather than suggest how to use these within this process. With missing recommendations about concrete teaching practices, the book is nothing more than a compendium on which films treat what subject. Vol. 29.3-4(1999) | 93 ...

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